Why Not Mike Riley?

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Scott Wolf

Jon Gruden’s name is getting attention this week for the USC job. But why isn’t there more buzz for Mike Riley? Oregon State is 6-2 and he always has a good offense. And he finds players who are overachievers like wide receiver Brandin Cooks, not to mention offensive tackle Sean Harlow.

Defensive coordinator Mark Banker is widely respected too. USC’s spoken to him for past openings but that was when Mike Garrett was the athletic director. Riley might feel different this time around.

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Stu Azole

how many times does Riley need to turn SC down? He’s staying where he is. Period.
- Trojan Hoarse
  
  Unless I am mistaken, Riley is currently coaching……is it common for an AD to recruit another schools head coach during the season?…. who is in the same conference?…. the very same week that he will be coaching against his prospective future boss????
  - Stu Azole
    
    they won’t contact him ever. They know he’s not interested.
    - Trojan Hoarse
      
      Nor is he a good fit, IMO…….
  - EncinitasBruin
    
    A mid-season search is a delicate situation for PH, to say the least. “Back channels” is the phrase of the day. Even then, with Twitter and hyper-social media, it’s not like 10 years ago when leaks happened much less frequently. Would not look good for SC or Riley if a contact went public during regular season. Gotta wait til after UCLA game…
Trojan Hoarse

“,,,,might feel different…..”?….. are you actually feeling Mike RIley?”….might feel differently…”, perhaps?…..
- HeySucs
  
  THore, you are desperately in need of an eye opener.
  - Trojan Hoarse
    
    why don’t you hook me up, then?……..
    - HeySucs
      
      Easy, catch a bus to your nearest ghetto liquor store, and purchase three quarts of Colt 45. Find a warm curb and chug-a-lug.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        I’m more of an Olde English “800” kinda guy, but thanks……I’ll try not wake you curbside….
      - HeySucs
        
        Me too. Three quarts of real cold OE 800, a joint or two, and some decent Toot = Zero Face. Yowsa! – thirty years ago.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        Don’t forget to throw in a couple of Quaaludes……………
      - HeySucs
        
        Into roller coaster rides are you?
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        The Ohio Players……
WEB_Dupree

Sorry, Bucket, but you’ve been reading this blog long enough to know that the Wolfman’s heart has always belonged to Mike Riley.
- Charlie Bucket
  
  i was checking out this long string and noticed your comment, but i did not make any remarks….are you pulling a Jethro G. Sabbath and accusing me of using another Nom de plume??
  
  by the way the G. stands for “Got it wrong”.
  - WEB_Dupree
    
    No, I was just struck by the tragic romance of it all.
Justinmcrane

He’s 60.
- EncinitasBruin
  
  Dude looks 50. The Jack LaLane workout and diet?
  - Trojan Hoarse
    
    I’m a fan of any diet that includes In-N-Out Burger….
    - EncinitasBruin
      
      5 Guys just went in around the corner from me. Get behind me, Satan.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        They just opened a 5 Guys in Cypress, near my work….between them, In-N-Out and The Habit, I have more than my fill of charred mammal…..
      - TrojanFamily
        
        Damn it, now I want a double double mustard-fried. I’ll get it protein style so I can pretend its healthy.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        If you are ever in The OC, try G-Burger…. they just opened one in Fountain Valley, and there is also one in La Habra (the original) and in Irvine…..their White Truffle Burger rocks……
      - TrojanFamily
        
        thanks man! I go to Lake Forest pretty regularly because a buddy lives there. Irvine’s close.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        No problem… BTW,,, there is also a Slater’s 50/50 in Lake Forest…..they have a burger patty which is 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon….. it’s insane!!!!!
      - TrojanFamily
        
        ok, its decided. I know what I’ll have next time I am in Lake Forest.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        You won’t regret it!…..my stomach can only handle it every once in a while….I usually go for the 100% beef patty most of the time….they also have this ridiculous “donut burger” for breakfast…..a 50/50 patty with American cheese topped with a sunny side up egg, sandwiched between two glazed donuts…. strawberry jelly is offered at no extra charge……I haven’t been brave enough to try it yet…..
      - HeySucs
        
        Wow, a sense of direction, I’m shocked.
22

Mike Riley is an excellent coach and representative of his university. Things are going well for him at Oregon State; he should not take the risk of relocating to SC.
CardinalnGold

What is it with this serious man crush that Wolfie has with Riley? Is Riley the only coach that was ever nice to him or something?
- Trojan Hoarse
  
  Wolfie is baffling, to say the least …..one day it’s Riley, the next day it’s James Franklin from Vanderbilt, then David Shaw of Stanford, and then Wolf almost begs Haden to offer other higher profile coaches, because Scottie strongly believes that we should at least get “turned down by the best”……
- Go Tama
  
  Totally agree. GRUDEN!!!!!!!!
- Go Tama
  
  Who do you think the ” anonymous PAC 12 coach ” is that Wolf cites so often ?
  - CardinalnGold
    
    That’s right!
- marvgoux1
  
  If the Beavs beat us tomorrow Riley’s stock will go up. It’s a nice tryout game.
  - TrojanFamily
    
    I didn’t know Oregon St. Is playing a team of internet trolls tomorrow as well.
ProbationU

10 years ago, Dan Guerreror had 2 choices for head coach at UCLA, Karl Dorrell or Mike Riley. The bozo took Dorrell and we sucked for another decade. Riley is an excellent coach, but as one pointed out he is no 60, Plus, he loves Corvallis.
- Trojan Hoarse
  
  I’m sure that Riley also prefers just being a big fish in a small pond, where he exceeds expectations simply by rolling out of bed….
  - ProbationU
    
    Also a nice place to live. Clean air and water. No sales tax. Reasonable housing. Reasonable fan base. You could do worse.
    - Trojan Hoarse
      
      I agree…. I’ve considered retiring in Oregon for those very reasons…. but the weather that living in SoCal offers, and being close to my family, has caused me to hang around for a bit longer….
      - HeySucs
        
        Rats!
      - TrojanFan
        
        I thought you jumped off the bridge and forgot to attach the tether
        
        Rats!
      - HeySucs
        
        See my comment near the top.
      - TrojanFan
        
        Which one, there all lame?
      - HeySucs
        
        But my comments have a point. Your comments on the other hand, lack proper context or exhibit intelligence.
      - HeySucs
        
        Imitation, the sincerest form of flattery.
      - TrojanFamily
        
        Oregon is gorgeous, but let’s be honest–Corvallis not so much. Eugene has a hippy, alt-living vibe (it has the reputation for being where Deadheads would go when the Dead were not on tour, or their VM micro-buses broke down). Portland is one of America’s really fun, hip cities. Corvallis is a real cow-town though. Corvallis proves even Oregon has rednecks.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        Ha!…. yea, I really enjoyed what Portland had to offer…..neither Corvallis or Eugene appealed to me very much……
- EncinitasBruin
  
  +1. Riley even went public saying he was interested, but Dan-O picked Dorrell. Oy. And thus began the DOM for UCLA (Decade of Mediocrity)…
- HeySucs
  
  Dorrell is a UCLA grad and African – American. Mike Riley, much more qualified, never stood a chance. UCLA did the wrong thing for the right reasons.
  - Trojan Hoarse
    
    At the University of “diversity”?
    - EncinitasBruin
      
      I went to school with Karl, and knew him as a great person–stellar human being. Was excited with the hire. Hindsight always provides for 20/20 vision, eh?
      - ProbationU
        
        I think Karl has always been a class act. What he hadn’t been was a head coach. Putting an amateur in the ring to compete with Pete Carroll for recruits? Ridiculous.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        I graduated from USC in 1983, I am guessing when you and Karl were freshman….I always thought that his calm, exterior demeanor worked against him, as many people, especially the media, often misinterpreted this as indifference…
      - EncinitasBruin
        
        UCLA ’85. My brother-in-law is Jeff Reed, SC Sigma Chi ’84. Know him?
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        I am afraid that I never got involved in the Greek system while at USC, or UCLA for that matter….the old Groucho Marx line – “I don’t want to belong to any club that would
        have me as a member.”…… LOL
      - HeySucs
        
        The difference between you and Groucho is choice. He had one, but you weren’t invited to join anything at SUC.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        Nice try, SUC, but I wasn’t hidden away during Rush Week like you and the other undesirables were in Animal House…….
      - HeySucs
        
        So you stood on a curb during “RUSH WEEK?” trilling a hard to get noticed and still couldn’t get Greek invitation.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        This may be difficult for you to understand, but I actually went to school three days a week and worked a real job the rest of the time…..30 years later, I am still working for the same company, fully vested in a healthy and generous 401K Plan, getting paid well, and I have seen virtually the entire world, on the company’s dime……and I also have many, many friends who were in the Greek system, so I really don’t feel like I missed out on very much…..
      - HeySucs
        
        OK. Appreciate the C.V. update.
      - TrojanFamily
        
        Dorrell had a lot more success than Neuheisel. 10-2 in 2005 (there was so much anticipation going into the USC/UCLA game that year too–he just got overwhelmed early). I think there is some historical revisionism here. There was some real promise. It was just the regression after that good year that did him in. And I am not convinced Riley would have won at UCLA anyway.
  - tim chaney
    
    I honestly think him being part of the ucla family weighed heavily in the decision. dorrell had no experience, and that was his downfall.
    - HeySucs
      
      For UCLA it was a win-win proposition. At the time I agreed with their choice. I thought KD was more experienced then was the actual case, and very sorry KD’s tenure was not more successful.
Go Tama

Memo to people in LA, not everyone is in love with the sewer that is Los Angeles aka Tijuana North.
- EncinitasBruin
  
  And that’s what all of us in the Southland hope non-Angelenos will continue to think. Please do stay away…
  - Trojan Hoarse
    
    FAR away……..
    - EncinitasBruin
      
      Like, New Jersey away…
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        BINGO!
- CardinalnGold
  
  It’s not like they’re moving to the garment district. Have you been to Manhattan Beach? Coaches love it there.
  - Trojan Hoarse
    
    And so do their wives….. gotta keep the females happy, too…..
  - TrojanFan
    
    IE is about was far west as he’s gotten!
Bill Simons

Seriously? Yeah, DON’T go with the Super Bowl Champion coach, let’s go with the consistently under-achieving nice guy that’s NEVER won a Pac 10/12 title and loves to lose to Division 2 teams
HeySucs

Jon Gruden doesn’t need the aggravation the SUC HC position would present. For instance, he would be subject to SUC jerk second guessing from THore, Joey Latent, SUC fan, Toilet Boil and Comerade.
- Helen
  
  Look on the bright side – he wouldn’t take any of Scottie’s BS and punch his lights out.
  - HeySucs
    
    Hello kitten.
    - Trojan Hoarse
      
      Sexist pig……..
      - HeySucs
        
        THore, obviously you’ve never held a purring kitten close. You’ve got to stop using fruits and vegetables for contentment.
      - Trojan Hoarse
        
        Hey, don’t knock using two peach halves until you’ve tried it….
EncinitasBruin

To me, Sark always seemed like SC’s Augustus to follow the mighty Caesar. Stock drop with Trojans due to UW struggles?
- WEB_Dupree
  
  Just my opinion, but yes.
  - TrojanFamily
    
    I think the problem is USC needs to move on from the Carroll era rather than try to re-create it. That was one of the lessons of the abject failure of the Kiffin era. It’s time to turn the page.
    
    Plus Sark hasn’t really won at the level USC should expect their next coach to be. He’s turned around UW (sort of) but they haven’t won anything since he was there. Sark sure feels like settling to me–maybe not as bad as Riley, but close.
    - WEB_Dupree
      
      Agree. If we could go back in time and make Sark, rather than Kiffin, the successor to Pete, maybe we’d be in a somewhat better place now. But how can USC hire a coach who seems like he should be on increasingly thin ice at his current job? (All that said, I don’t even claim to know who they should hire or who the best/most realistic choice would be.).
    - sureshot32
      
      Sark would be settling even more than Riley. UW should be rolling. It’s in Seattle, it has a great history, and they just upgraded the facilities. Besides, he poached Tosh Lapoi (sp?) from Cal – so recruiting should be dynamite every year. I was never overly impressed with Sark. The only bonus of grabbing him would be that Mora would jump at the chance to lead his alma mater. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that Jimmy Jr. isn’t as good of a coach as the bruins think he is. If you look at his NFL experience, his teams generally got worse the longer he was there. Makes me wonder if he’s not one of those “rah, rah” types that get on players’ nerves after a while.
- Trojan Hoarse
  
  The stock of coaches (as head coaches) from Carrolls “coaching tree” plummeted with Nick Holt in Idaho and Norm Chow in Hawaii…..
jetman624

I still think Ed O could be the guy once SC is back to a full, loaded roster. All the players seem to have great respect for him. He is just a no-nonsense-work-your-butt-
off kinda guy…
- Tom Oday
  
  Agree. Without Orgeron…Kiffin would have lasted a year-and-a-half.
Henry Bibby

Why not Mike Riley? Record87–69 (.558)
- Trojan Hoarse
  
  Please don’t overwhelm Wolf with facts……you should know this by now….. LOL
  - Henry Bibby
    
    I love how Lane Kiffin has a higher winning percentage than Mike Riley. Delusional beat writing, must be fun.
    - Trojan Hoarse
      
      Talk about a low stress job……..
- Cheap seats
  
  LOL. I think Wolf’s source for the Gruden rumors was YOUR comment earlier.
  
  I had to do the same thing earlier this season when I would report actual football things going on when I was attending practices.
  
  Wolf was busy in his fire Kiffin campaign of 3+ blogs about him per day and meanwhile we never knew Silas Redd was never on the field and it looked like Lee was being given a free pass in most sessions!
  - Henry Bibby
    
    Haha! Wolfie will completely miss the hiring of the new HC due to his Lane Kiffin blinders. Only to read about it in the comments of his own blog post titled “Maybe Mike Riley Still?”.
Henry Bibby

Brandin Cooks & Sean Harlow? Holy cow, get on the phone immediately. Mike Riley is building a dynasty up there with those two recruits.
- Trojan Hoarse
  
  Quick…..somebody please call the NCAA…..something fishy is going on up in Beavertown……
  - Henry Bibby
    
    If Riley leaves Oregon State, we now know why…sanctions were coming down the pipe. Wolfie is genius in pointing out that Riley is cheating. That’s the only way to build a dynasty in Corvallis.
TrojanFamily

maybe because Mike Riley’s teams have never finished higher than 3rd in conference. He has a career conference coaching record of 56-52. Even scheduling out of conference cupcakes, his coaching record at Oregon State is only 87-69.

I know Wolf advocated settling in this coaching search, but honestly, why would USC settle that much?
tim chaney

all that being said, i’m really hoping for gruden…
Trojan Hoarse

Ted Miller from ESPN SportsNation is favoring Kevin Sumlin to be the next head coach of USC……everyone is entitled to their opinion, I suppose……
- sureshot32
  
  Top 3 should be (in no particular order)
  Petersen
  Sumlin
  Briles
  
  With Chucky just behind as the wild card that could be a home run.
Willlson!

Why not Riley? Sure, his teams generally finish the year strong. But how many early Sept. Saturdays of seeing his shit-eating grin after getting boat raced by the likes of Hawaii and Idaho will we be able to take?
Jack B

Riley’s a good, not great coach, Scottie. Very nice guy. Lots of candidates fill that bill. USC is not a school that should need to depend on overachievers. Wrong market. Wrong business plan for a school that has more NFL Hall-of-Famers, more first round draft picks, than any other. Also, Riley has already been at USC. Let’s try something new for a change. There are plenty of excellent alternatives. I say let’s go for someone who likes to go for the throat.
- Bill
  
  SuC just loves the underachievers!!!
Cheap seats

Wow…92+ comments on a blog on Mike Riley..

Then we wonder why Wolf keeps blogging about it.

Even I have to admit, Scottie is damn good at trolling.
MISTERUSC

Gruden would be a HUGE pick. That is, if they can him. $$$$$$. Whoever Haden picks, he better make DAMN sure he hits a grand slam. He’s legacy is on the line.
steveg

Wooolfie, get off the Riley idea. Neva gonna happen. Let it go. Start getting aquainted with Sumlin or Gruden.
elpolloloco

Hue Jackson is the answer
B.Miller

Wolf.. Its not common for a HC to leave their current HC job to jump around in their own conference.
Mike Riley is not going to leave Oregon St
Shaw is not going to leave Stanford
Sark is not going to leave Washington
so how about we just leave them in peace..
Dr. Paul

USC 31 OSU 14… I think we have the answer!

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Why Not Mike Riley?